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Spread of HIV slowing down - Govt

South Africa is making progress against HIV/AIDS by increasing treatment and prevention campaigns, the government said on Thursday.

According to Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, overall HIV prevalence was no longer increasing as significantly as it did in the early 1990s.

"Particularly encouraging is that the prevention messages regarding abstinence, faithfulness and condom use are being taken to heart, especially by the youth," the South African Press Association quoted Tshabalala-Msimang as saying.

The minister estimated that 100,000 HIV-positive people were now accessing anti-AIDS drugs through the government's national treatment programme, launched in 2003.


This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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